


Into Byrne's Forest

by Fadefur



Series: Byrne's Forest AU [1]
Category: Fall Out Boy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Body Horror, Forests, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:27:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26617438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fadefur/pseuds/Fadefur
Summary: Word count- 3,737
Series: Byrne's Forest AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1936306
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	Into Byrne's Forest

Most people underestimate how quick I can be. Generally they see the eyeliner and the skinny jeans and assume I sit around and cry all day, which first, if that's what I did, I wouldn't bother with the eyeliner because it would just run. 

Also, I used to play soccer, and I was pretty damn good at it, so there's that.

I was jarred from my thoughts as I had to catch myself from tripping over a tree root. I could hear yelling from the five guys chasing me, and for some reason I muttered an apology to the tree before speeding away. Those assholes had hung out in the parking lot of the Byrne's Forest Nature Trail and thought they could throw slurs and not get a face full of fist. Thing is, I only had two fists while they had ten. Hence the running.

The woods were getting thicker, and I thanked my lucky stars that I was good at soccer because holy fuck I needed the footwork skills. I was running directly into a fog, and I thought maybe that would help with some cover.

I was nearly out of breath, so I simply focused on running for a while.

And then I fell into a small hole. Well, the hole opening was small, but it was pretty deep. It felt like I was flying for a second. 

I landed on my ass with a small "Oof!", and realized that the fog had been so thick I could barely see my own feet, let alone the opening in the ground. And now it was dark, so the most I knew about this hole was that it was cold and it felt like the wall and floor was made of a mixture of dirt, rocks, and roots. I held my hand in front of my face, and sure enough, I could see nothing.

Carefully, I stood up, and began to feel around for a place to go. Climbing up didn't seem like a good option if I could use some sort of tunnel, because if I tried to climb, the likelihood of me falling seemed pretty great.

There was only one tunnel connected to the hole, so, with my hand on the wall, I began moving forward.

It felt like hours, though honestly I had no true sense of time. I just kept moving through the twists and turns of whatever tunnel I was in. I could feel myself going downhill, then uphill, then downhill again, snaking underneath Byrne's Forest. Maybe this is where everyone disappeared? They fell into a hole and couldn't get out?

A chill ran over my skin as the thought of being stuck here forever crossed my mind. Would it be starvation? Or maybe hypothermia? Dehydration? Or would it rain and I was going to drown, stuck below the surface? I could feel myself start to shake in fear.

Then, behind me, a light. I could see my shadow stretch forward in front of me.

"Hello." A cool, calm voice spoke to me, and for some reason, I instantly relaxed. I began to turn to see who it was, but then something was holding me still.

"Do not be afraid, human. You do not seem like the rest." 

I struggled a little against whatever was restraining me, but again, the voice really did make me feel as if I wasn't in danger. So, I responded to it. "What's your name, mystery voice?"

A deep chuckle. "Is that really the first question you have for me?" To be honest, that sounded more like a statement than a question, but I nodded anyway. "I go by many. You may call me as you wish."

I thought for a second, trying to match the voice to a name. What sounded calm and reassuring?

"Patrick. I'm gonna call you Patrick. " I could hear the smile in my own voice as I once again tugged at what held me. Maybe I had already died and this was the guy sending me to hell? Either way, they at least sounded like a nice person. "My name is Pete, if you wanna know?"

A small silence. Then I heard movement. 

The light moved from behind me, and as it floated over my shoulder I could see what it was. It looked like a bunch of mushroom spores, glowing a bright orange, and for some reason that made me giggle. Actually, I realized I was giggling because what appeared to be roots that were holding me still now shifted, lifting me up and tickling my sides as a man ducked under me. 

Well, a man-ish. It looked like parts of his body had become vines and roots, covered in moss and mushrooms. The parts that looked to be human told me that he had reddish, blondish, brownish hair, pale skin, and blue eyes. Correction- blue eye. One eye socket appeared to have kinda rotted out, roots diving into the hole left behind. I could see a little patch of tiny, glowing blue mushrooms in there. Yep, I was dead. Maybe this guy was God? It would make sense, I guess. The guy created everything, so I couldn't blame him for kinda wanting to be everything too.

And maybe I thought it was hot, because the first thing out of my mouth was "Holy shit, you're cute as hell!"

Patrick sorta half-smiled, half-smirked, nodded to himself, and flicked his wrist, and I found myself falling for the second time today.

Strong, mossy arms caught me, and now I was being carried bridal style by the Mushroom Man through the tunnels. This gave me the perfect excuse to cuddle into him. His 'skin' was kinda soft, with a bit of give. He smelled like dirt, which wasn't something I found I disliked. In fact, I could probably get behind The Scent Of Dirt.

He seemed to know where he was going, and was moving much more gracefully than I was. To my credit, though, he had light. I spent some time actually studying the walls, because it looked natural, but it also didn't seem like something that would naturally form. There was no volcano nearby to leave old vents. But there was also no sign that it used to be an underground river.

Roots were suddenly coming at us from the walls, startling me from my thoughts, and I looked up to see stars and the night sky through a hole in the ceiling. There was just a sliver of silver moon. A waning crescent. We were deep down in the earth, and Patrick's light went out as we began to rise, pushed and pulled and held up by roots and vines.

I made the mistake of looking down about halfway through our ascent, and immediately buried my face into Patrick's chest. It was like a void. I wanted no part of that, thanks.

I could feel him touch back down and begin walking again, but honestly I didn't care anymore. I was snuggled into a cute mushroom boy in the middle of the woods. What more does a guy need?

Patrick sighed. "You will no longer be allowed to leave this forest. Do you understand?"

I rolled my eyes, though he couldn't see it, and mumbled back into him. "Well, yeah, I'm pretty dead, right?"

He stopped abruptly. Carefully, he moved me so he could look me in the face.

"You truly believe you're dead. Why?"

Pure confusion washed over me. "Well, I fell in a hole and this guy made of mushrooms comes and saves me. What other conclusion am I supposed to come to?"

"You are an interesting human." Patrick started to move again. "I am glad I kept you."

I blinked several times. "What is that supposed to mean?"

He was quiet for a while, and when he responded I had nearly forgotten what I asked. "You will learn. In time."

The fog around us thickened, and it began to smell sickeningly sweet. Patrick seemed unaffected, but my skin itched. I could swear the trees were moving, following us, and I opened my mouth to tell him.

He was shushing me as soon as my lips moved. "It is going to be okay, Pete. These are the Lost Woods. Humans do not do well here, but we will be through soon. Close your eyes and focus on my movements."

Honestly, I tried to do what he told me. But the second my eyes were closed I was even more paranoid about something following us, and I swear I could feel the very air piercing my skin, needles prodding into me. I squirmed, trying to stop whatever was going on.

Then something actually did touch me, and I screamed before Patrick shushed me again. My eyes popped open and I could see vines wrapping around me, holding me still again.

Now that I couldn't move, it was even harder to stay calm. My head was starting to feel itchy inside, and I squirmed again in my vine straitjacket. I swear I could see the mist moving like it had a mind of it's own. Like it was trying to reach towards me, to attack me in some way. Or maybe beckoning for me. Telling me to wander off and join it.

That's when I started crying. I genuinely couldn't help it. I didn't feel in control of my own body anymore. Patrick was now running, glancing down at me pretty often with a concerned look on his face.

At some point, I noticed I was writhing as much as I could while restrained, lightheaded and unable to focus. Patrick was genuinely worried. It felt like eternities were passing every time I blinked, and I couldn't stop staring at the trees reaching into view through the fog as we passed them. They looked almost human like. I was terrified that they would kill me if I stopped looking at them, like those angel statues from Doctor Who.

And then, Patrick broke through the mist into a large clearing, a huge tree looming in the center. Pure relief crashed over me, no longer under the spell of whatever that was.

The vines around me loosened, and Patrick tried to set me down on the ground, but I was clambering back onto him as soon as he even tried. I could hear him sigh, but he patted my back gently and began walking again, this time with my legs around his waist and arms around his neck, face pressed into him and still crying.

Oh fuck, my eyeliner was absolutely destroyed. 

He was quickly setting me down again, next to a stream of crystal clear water. He pulled a piece of bark off himself, dipping it into the stream and offering me water, which I gulped down. I sniffed a couple times and rubbed my eyes. Then, he was gone again, and as soon as I noticed I was bawling.

I heard a noise behind me, and before I turned to look, roots were erupting from the ground, wrapping around me far too tight. One compressed my throat, and I was choking and gasping for air. I imagine I looked like a fish out of water.

I could feel them pulling my body down into the earth, crushing me under their immense strength. I begged silently for my life.

I guess I hadn't died. I guess the lost woods were a test I had failed. I guess I just wasn't good enough, and Patrick had finally realized that.

"Ray! Stop that!"

Or, there was another plant person. As soon as I heard Patrick's voice, I was calm again. Even half strangled, I was so enraptured by him that his voice just made me feel at peace. Or maybe that was just him?

The roots gave up their hold on me, and I almost choked on that first breath I took. Patrick was beside me now, checking me over. He pulled me into his lap, sitting down and petting my hair while I cried into him again.

"I apologize. I was unaware we had a new guest."

Patrick growled. "How do you think he got here? Humans cannot get through the Lost Woods alone."

The other one, Ray, just made a type of whimpering noise. Suddenly, there was another gentle hand on my head. I flinched, but Patrick didn't seem worried, so I looked up at the other man.

He was tall. Like, Patrick was a little bit shorter than me, which is kinda hard to do, but this guy was like a tree. Which kept up with the theme of his body.

He appeared to have a crown of horns cropping out of his curly, long brown hair. Upon closer inspection, those were actually sticks and branches growing out of him. The upper half of his face was human, brown eyes appraising me. The bottom half, however, was all roots and vines. Actually, he didn't appear to have a jaw. Leaves popped out of his body in seemingly random places. The hand I could see was made of roots and wood twisted into finger like points.

He was looking at me like I was a puppy, and the next words to come out of his lack of mouth kinda confirmed that.

"May I hold him?" I honestly couldn't understand how he spoke, but I was too tired to worry about that.

I mean, puppy is definitely a step up from being killed. Upgrades, people, upgrades!

I could feel Patrick shrug. "Ask him, Sunray. He seems to be particularly vulnerable to the Lost Woods, so he was already shaken up before you tried to kill him. He might not be too fond of anyone but me right now."

Ray's hand pulled back from my head. I'm guessing the look in his eyes was regret, but since I couldn't recognize the rest of his face, I wasn't super sure. He turned to leave, and I tried to grab his wrist so I could pull him into a cuddle pile, but he was gone, disappearing into the moonlit treeline.

Patrick chuckled, pulling me back into his chest. "It is okay, my little human. He will be back." He took one look at my disappointed pout and cocked his head. "Why are you so…" He seemed to be looking for a word. "Unafraid?"

I curled into him. "Well, you seem to be a pretty nice guy. And from what I gather, Ray assumed I was an intruder. No harm done, really."

Patrick patted me. "Sunray is generally the good cop between the two of us.” He said, voice fond. “He truly is quite gentle. I apologize for allowing you to be in danger, and I apologize that you met Sunray in that manner.

"Now, it seems to be a good time to explain what has happened. As you may be able to tell, I am not human. I am a being of the forest, part of the collective network of consciousness that is Byrne's Forest. As a mobile part, I am a guardian. 

"Our mission is to rid the forest of the human plague." I shifted uncomfortably at that, and he petted my hair. "Not you, Pete. You are safe. I observed that not only are you a friend to the forest through the way you respect and care for it while on your trails, but you also aren't unaware of the evils your kind can commit.

"You would have died in those tunnels. I chose to instead save you. However, I cannot let you leave now. The forest's secret is too great to allow anyone who has seen us free."

I opened my mouth to respond, but I had no idea what I was going to say. Instead I shook my head, motioning for him to continue. 

"You will live out your days in the clearing and surrounding light woods here. I assure you, if you try to escape, the Lost Woods will claim you. The large tree in the center of the clearing is off limits." He pulled my chin up to look me in the eyes, his blue eye piercing into me. "Do not try to get too near it. Your life will be cut short."

A silence sunk that in.

"All the berries, fruits, and vegetables here are safe for human consumption. You will find a small building with some blankets, pillows, moss, and feathers to make your bed in. If you need any animals caught so you may eat meat, please ask me, Sunray, or Moonlight. I believe you may nickname any of us."

I tapped his shoulder to let him know I had a question. "Yes, little one?"

"What were you called?"

"Rot."

I gave him a small smile and snuggled into him more. "Patrick suits you better. You're a lot more cuddly than the name Rot would suggest."

"On the contrary, I am known to be one of the more ruthless killers, Pete."

I just rolled my eyes, ignoring the shiver that sent down my spine. That made me wonder why I wasn't actually scared. The quick conclusion I came to was that his voice was just really calming. His presence, too. It was like a drug.

"Do you all have themes? Like, you're mushroom, Ray seems to be a tree. What is, uh-"

"Moonlight? He is night blooming flowers. A sight to behold under the stars. However, he seemed to be close to completing ascension the last time I saw him. You may or may not meet him while he is still mobile."

I gave Patrick a confused look, and he sighed.

"He will soon be part of the forest completely. Unable to move or speak, and fully integrated into the collective.” Patrick’s eyes misted over, before his head snapped to look somewhere behind me. “Oh! There he is now."

I looked over, and honestly, it was a beautiful sight, if not somewhat unnerving. It appeared to be a moving bush of softly glowing white, blue, and purple flowers shuffling towards us.

"Hi, Josh!" I just said the first name that came to mind as soon as he was close enough. I could see one eye that wasn't covered by petals.

He chuckled, and I noticed spatters of something dark on him. I chose not to look too hard or think too much about that.

"Hello, little human! Sunray just told me about you. It seems you're adjusting well so far, though it is okay to have a meltdown or five. It is a jarring change."

I could feel Patrick stiffen. "So soon, then?"

"Yes, Rot. I will complete ascending soon." 

The hands on me tightened. 

"Patrick, was it? Is that what he named you?"

Patrick nodded.

"A lovely name." A pause, and the flowers on his face shifted, so I think he smiled. "Patrick, you know flowers are notorious for having a fast ascension. But that doesn't mean I am leaving you. I know you've watched others ascend completely while you've been guarding this forest. You and Ray both. I acknowledge that it is hard to watch the seasons pass along with your companions. But know that we are never truly gone, and I have valued-”

I had slipped out of his lap at this point, sensing that the conversation was not my place to be. Instead, I was on my way to look for the building Patrick had mentioned, and picked some strawberries along the way to snack on.

The clearing was huge, the tree in the center looming above, branches and leaves blocking out stars. I could actually see the milky way, far away from the lights of the city. It was then that I noticed a large chunk of branches that didn't have leaves, but I couldn't discern why this far away and in the darkness of the night. Either way, I kept a wide berth from it. I was halfway through my handful of strawberries, juice running down my chin.

I could see the stream that Patrick sat me down next to flowed into a pool of water that appeared to be a large pond. The moon reflected off the surface, small ripples marring an otherwise perfect mirror. Slightly back from the edge of the sandy shoreline was what I assumed to be the house Patrick told me about. Now finished, I rinsed my hands in the pond, wiping off whatever stickiness was on me.

It looked almost like a large chicken coop, a ramp leading into what appeared to be an opening covered by ropes of woven grass. The roof appeared to maybe be thatch, with walls of sticks and mud. It didn't look amateurish, though. It was like Michelangelo had made a masterpiece out of play-doh. Beautiful, but with simple materials.

Inside was much the same, piles of different bedding against the back wall, lit by something similar to Patrick's glowing spores. I tugged everything into a corner and tried my best to make it into a nest shape, exhaustion finally catching up with me.

Ray poked his head in, before the rest of him came into the coop. "I apologize for scaring you. I made something so you would hopefully forgive me."

His root hand opened to show me a necklace. It was a black spiral shell suspended on some sort of braided, smooth fiber, with moonstone and pearl beads woven into it.

I carefully plucked it out of his hand, putting it on before pulling him into my bed. He seemed willing, so I directed him onto his side and curled against him, my head in his chest, humming happily and closing my eyes.

I was half asleep when Patrick came in. He appraised the situation for a bit, before I made a string of mumbling, whining noises at him to get his ass over here and cuddle me. He quickly obliged, his chest to my back.

With two plant men pressed against me, I actually kind of felt safe. I could feel one of Ray's hands in my hair, petting me again. Patrick had his arms around my waist and chest, pulling me close to him gently but also somewhat possessive. I couldn't fight the sleep trying to overtake me, but just as I was drifting off, I swear I could hear Patrick begin to sing softly.

That was probably the best night's sleep I'd ever had.

**Author's Note:**

> Word count- 3,737


End file.
